A Chance Encounter
by lunar mischief
Summary: Antonio's birthday hasn't been going so well. But when he meets a feisty Italian, it starts to look up.


**I tried to get this up yesterday, but ffnet was down...So Happy Belated Birthday Spain!**

**Thanks to my wonderful wife MoonClaimed for editing this very last minute for me. Love ya babe!**

**Oh, and it should be pretty obvious, but this is AU.**

**I own nothing.**

* * *

><p>Antonio sighed as he walked across the dark campus. This had to be the worst day of his life. He slept through breakfast, was late to his first class, had to work through his siesta, forgot to do his homework for his last class, and he was pretty sure he had just failed his child psych test. He didn't even have his two best friends to cheer him up, either. Gilbert was sick with the flu and Francis was studying abroad in France this semester.<p>

Weren't birthdays supposed to be fun?

"Cazzo!" A voice shouted from his left. Antonio turned to see a boy on crutches struggling with the door of the engineering building.

Antonio jogged over and pulled the door open for the boy with a smile.

"I could have gotten it myself," the boy grumbled as he hobbled inside the building. Antonio followed him in and got a good look at the boy for the first time. He wasn't bad looking. Short auburn hair with one stray curl, amber eyes, olive skin tainted with a deep red blush…_Cute~_

"Si, of course," Antonio said, still smiling. "I'm Antonio," he said, shoving his hand out. Lovino stared blankly at the outstretched arm. "Oh, right. Crutches…." The Spaniard lowered his hand as a frown formed on his face.

"…Lovino." The auburn haired boy mumbled, averting his eyes.

Antonio brightened instantly. "What time do you get out of class?"

Lovino's eyes snapped back to the brunet. "W-What?" he asked, taken aback by the stranger's question. "Why the fuck do you want to know?"

"Well...I was thinking I could walk you home!" the green eyed man smiled cheerfully.

The Italian turned a shade darker. "Why would I want you to walk me home, bastard? I don't even fucking know you!"

"But it's icy out there! You could slip and fall and no one would know! Or what if you need help with another door and no one's around, Lovi?"

"L-Lovi?" the smaller man sputtered. "Don't call me that you bastard!" he huffed, completely ignoring the truth behind the Spaniard's words.

"Aw, Lovi, you look like a tomato~!" Antonio exclaimed.

"Stop calling me that!" Lovino glanced at the clock on the wall. "Merda! I'm going to be late." He turned to go, but Antonio grabbed his arm.

"Wait, you never told me what time to get you!" he pleaded. Seeing the Italian hesitate, he added "If you don't tell me, I'll just wait here until you get out." Lovino broke their gaze and Antonio wilted, reluctantly letting go of Lovino's sleeve.

The auburn haired boy slowly made his way to his classroom, then stopped in front of the door and murmured something.

"What did you say? I couldn't hear you," Antonio said, walking over to meet him.

"I said I get out at 9:30. That's what you wanted to know, wasn't it?" Lovino mumbled.

The brunet stared at the beet-red boy in disbelief before a smile etched onto his face. "Si! I'll see you then, Lovi~!" Lovino gave a curt nod before shuffling into his classroom.

Antonio watched him go in before checking the time. He had just over two hours till he had to be back. He decided to drop off his books in his dorm and then decide what to do from there.

* * *

><p>Lovino slung his bag over his shoulder before hobbling out of the classroom.<p>

"Hola Lovi~!" a familiar voice called from down the hall. Lovino's eyes widened in surprise.

"You actually came back?" he asked, shocked.

Antonio smiled. "Of course! I said I would, didn't I? Oh, let me take your bag! It must be hard balancing with it," he said, reaching for the strap on Lovino's shoulder.

"W-What? I can hold it fine myself, dammit!" the Italian yelped, taking a quick step backwards.

And falling.

Lovino squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the impact of the floor when he felt a hand grasp his and an arm wrap around his waist. He gasped as his eyes flew open and were met with a pair of emeralds. He could feel the heat rising on his face, but he could do nothing but stare openmouthed at his savior.

"Are you ok, Lovi?" Antonio asked, voice laced with concern. Lovino nodded slowly, mouth still agape. Antonio sighed in relief. "Oh good, I was afraid you were hurt!" He pulled the Italian back up and reached down to retrieve his abandoned crutches. He stood up and was face-to-face with a brown leather messenger bag. He blinked in surprise and glanced at its holder.

"Take it. It's the least you can do after making me fall," the amber eyed boy grumbled.

"Ah, si…" Antonio smiled, gingerly placing the bag over his own shoulder. "Lo siento."

"Speak English or Italian, bastard. I don't know Spanish," Lovino griped, making his way to the door.

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" The Spaniard jogged ahead to get the door, receiving a grunt as thanks.

After a few moments of silence, Antonio decided to break it and learn more about his mysterious Italian.

"So what class did you have?"

"Design and Draw for Production. I'm an architecture major."

"Really? That's cool. I'm a Spanish education major. I want to teach little kids Spanish. Oh, I know! I should teach _you_ Spanish, Lovi!" the taller man smiled.

"Hey! I'm not some kid," the boy huffed. "I'm 19."

"You are? You look younger…" Antonio mumbled to himself. "Hey, Lovi? You want to get some hot chocolate?" he asked as they passed the main cafeteria.

"Why would I want to get hot chocolate with a bastard like you?"

"Well you don't have to, but I'm getting one either way," the brunet said, heading towards the glass doors. He pulled one open and waited. "So will you come? It's my treat!" he asked hopefully.

"Fine. But only since you're paying," the Italian grumbled as he walked through the door.

They quickly paid for their beverages and sat down at a table.

"So aren't you curious how old I am?" Antonio asked.

"No, why should I care?" Lovino replied bluntly.

"Aw, Lovi~ That's so mean!" the Spaniard pouted.

"Alright, alright, fine." The auburn haired man crossed his arms. "How old are you, bastard?"

"I'm 22! And you know you can call me by my name, right?"

"But bastard suits you better. Besides, you don't call me by mine."

"That's because Lovi is so much cuter!" Lovino grumbled something in Italian before turning his attention back to his hot chocolate, allowing silence to fall over the couple.

"So what did you do?" Antonio asked, sipping his drink.

"What?"

"You're on crutches. What did you do to get on them?" Antonio saw Lovino tense.

"It's all that damn potato bastard's fault. If he would just stay away from my brother I'd be perfectly fine," he complained.

"I'm a little lost…" Antonio laughed sheepishly.

"There's this potato bastard that's always hanging around my brother," the Italian started. "So I went to tell the fucker to stay the fuck away from him. But there was a banana peel on the ground (fucking bastard probably put it there) and I fell and sprained my ankle." Lovino glared at Antonio, daring him to laugh.

"Aw, Lovi~! That's so sweet, protecting your brother," he cooed. "But you know that if your brother has a stalker you can call the police, right?" Antonio asked, disregarding the banana incident.

"That's the problem!" the angry Italian shouted. "Feliciano fucking loves having the bastard around!"

Antonio blinked. "I'm not sure I follow. If your brother likes him, then what's wrong with them hanging out?"

"Everything! Everything's wrong with it!" Lovino yelled, exasperated.

Seeing he was getting nowhere, Antonio decided to switch gears.

"Hey Lovi?"

"What?" he spat, still angry about the accursed German.

"You said you were in a drawing class, right?"

"Yeah, architectural stuff. Why?"

"Can I look at some of the stuff you drew?" Antonio pleaded.

"Most of it's not even that good," Lovino reasoned, hoping the Spanish man would leave it at that.

"I'm sure they're all great. They were done by you, after all." Antonio smiled flirtatiously.

"W-What's that supposed to mean? You barely know me; we only just met!" the shorter man exclaimed, flabbergasted.

"And I'm sure whatever you sketch is beautiful."

Lovino blushed, grumbling something under his breath before reaching into his bag and pulling out his drawing book. He watched anxiously as Antonio flipped through the dozens of pages filled with houses, cathedrals, skyscrapers, gardens, and anything else his mind could imagine. Each page was littered with notes on the color, size, and even material that he had envisioned.

Green eyes stared in wonder at each picture, easily imagining them in real life. He paused on a picture of a balcony.

"This looks like something you'd find on La Pedrera," he finally said. Lovino's eyes widened.

"You know Gaudi?" he asked, astonished.

"Si! I grew up in Barcelona. My flat was only a few blocks away from it. But seriously, Lovi, these are amazing," Antonio said, handing back the book.

"Well of course they are, bastard. I drew them." Lovino carefully shoved the book back into his satchel and taking one last sip of his cocoa.

"Ready to go?" Antonio asked. Lovino nodded, throwing on his coat and passing Antonio his book bag.

They left the cafeteria and strolled around the university grounds in a comfortable silence.

"Wait, Lovi, look!" Antonio suddenly called. "It's snowing!"

"Uh…yeah. It does that," the Italian said, teeth chattering, obviously less enthused. He saw Antonio futzing with something out of his peripherals, but decided he'd probably be better not knowing.

As fate would have it, he found out about three seconds later when he felt something warm and undeniably red being wrapped around his neck. He blinked in surprise and stared at Antonio.

"You looked cold," the taller man said simply, flashing another smile.

Lovino hunched his face into his newfound warmth as he continued to the building twenty yards ahead. He paused outside and turned to face Antonio.

"My ID's in my bag. Just hold it up to the scanner, it should read it." The Spanish man did as he was told and the light next to the door turned green. Lovino elbowed the handicapped button. While he waited for the door to open (seriously, could this thing move any slower?) he turned back to Antonio.

"Hey, um, thanks for carrying my shit and making sure I didn't fall and crap…" he mumbled into the brunet's scarf, hoping to hide his blush.

"You're welcome, Lovi!" he said, smiling brightly. "I had fun!"

Lovino nodded silently and hobbled into the (finally) open door. "I'll take my bag back now. I'll be fine, I promise. Besides, we aren't really supposed to have guests after 10:30…" With any luck, the idiot would buy it and he could prevent him from finding out where he lived…

"That's ok, I really don't mind. And I don't know if I really count as a guest since I live here too ahaha~ Isn't that great, Lovi?"

Lovino paled. "Peachy," he replied tersely. He proceeded to walk down the hall to his left and stopped at the third door on the right. "I need my bag, my key's in it." Antonio silently handed him the shoulder bag and watched as he dug through it. He finally found it and shoved it into the door.

"Thanks again, I guess. See you around?" Lovino asked.

"Si, I'm sure we'll see each other real soon! Buenas noches, Lovi!"

"Buonanotte, bastard," Lovino replied as he quietly shut the door.

_Maybe today wasn't so bad after all_, Antonio thought as he spun around and opened the door directly across from Lovino's.


End file.
